The Blue Rickshaw

Monday, April 1, 2013

Before I proceed writing this article, I’d like to put out a few disclaimers. The first is that though I have never liked Imran Khan the politician, I greatly respect him and what he has already done for Pakistan. The second is I know this article is the definition of drawing room politics, as I write from the comfort of my apartment in DC while most of my friends are still drying off from attending the figurative and literal ‘tsunami’ of Khan sahab’s speech last week. That being said, I have a few observations to make, feel free to agree or discard them.

Like most of Pakistan I watched Imran Khan address a packed crowd around Minar-e-Pakistan on Pakistan Day. Actually, it was more than just Lahoris, a close friend of mine from DC went over to join the festivities. Almost everyone I know from Aitchison had either found their way onto the stage by Imran Khan since his nephews were our classmates, or were content dancing in the rain with everyone else. Salman Ahmed, with the help of the one and only DJ Butt, help lift the spirits and keep things moving (though to be quite honest, ‘Naya Pakistan’ is nothing short of garbage music).

To get that many Pakistanis braving the elements to jump and scream with joy in the hope of a better tomorrow is really something. No matter what one thinks of Imran Khan, you have to tip your hat to the level of optimism and enthusiasm shown at a time where the electricity seems to be gone more than it is supplied, inflation has bent the back of even the most well-off families and the most corrupt government in the history of Pakistan has just completed 5 years. It is similar to the enthusiasm I saw sweep across the US when Barack Obama was running for office. George W. Bush’s tenure was finally up, and the Americans were probably as relieved to see him go as we are to see the back of Z. America was also in the midst of the greatest economic crisis since the great depression, so the campaign slogan of ‘Hope’ really galvanized the country.

Fast forward 4 years and the election was nowhere near as exciting or uplifting. Instead of voting for hope and change, people seemed to be voting for the guy who wasn’t the Mormon. Ok, maybe that’s an over-simplification, but the hype that had been built up around Obama ended up working against him. Even though the country was in better shape than when he took over, unemployment was still high, Republicans and Democrats still didn’t get along, and Guantanamo remained open. In the same way, if we fast forward 4 months, sadly Imran Khan will not be Prime Minister, corruption will still exist, and all of Pakistan will be a hot sweaty mess because load-shedding is here to stay. I’m no polling expert, but to go from the one seat PTI has ever won to 170+ in order get control of the National Assembly is a jump not even the most optimistic supporters can truly believe in. That’s not to say that Imran Khan has been wasting his time. Even his staunchest enemies concede that he is likely to get at least 20-30 seats. That would be no mean feat. In the previous near two decades of PTIs existence, they have won only one seat: IK’s seat in Mianwali. Anything over 15 seats would be a huge success, and a massive step forward.

On a quick, slightly irrelevant, side note, it seems that Barack Obama is quickly approaching the levels of hatred in Pakistan his predecessor enjoyed. My only question is why it took this long for people to realize Obama’s inept foreign policy initiatives. From his very first interviews as a candidate back in 2006, Obama vowed to take a dump on Pakistan by violating its sovereignty, if necessary. His expansion of the drone policy is simply fulfilling his campaign promises.

The other American politician I see traces of in IK is a much less flattering comparison (not that the last one was meant to be flattering). Michelle Bachman, to my dear Pakistani friends not aware of her, is a crazier lesser known version of Sarah Palin. Unfortunately I don’t have time to elaborate on the dozens and dozens of examples of her wackiness, but the one thing I remember most about Bachman is her constant references to Church, and how apparently her Lord Jesus had wanted her to lead the American people. You see, to the conservative right of America, this ‘socialist left’ regime of Barack Obama is as bad as Z being in power back home, so she was God’s answer to save America. She didn’t last long. The reason I bring her up is because the actual content of Imran Khan’s speech, at least the part till DJ Butt started taking over, was quite awful. Every 3rd line seemed to be some version of Surah Fateha: the first tid bit of the Quran every Muslim learns. He kept referencing Islam in the strangest way possible, clearly forcing his right wing roots to try and appeal to his base. Imran Khan is an extremely cocky man, which is fine, he did win us the World Cup after all, but in his demeanor, it would appear that he also views himself as divinely appointed to rule. Don’t get me wrong, next to Z and Nawaz Sharif, IK is as good as Ricky Ponting, Steve Waugh, Kapil Dev and Imran Khan rolled into one when it comes to leadership. However, it would be foolish to think he can part the sea and lead us to the promised land.

Imran Khan’s constant references to religion is about as blatant a ploy as there is to appeal to the main voting block of Pakistan: conservative. This is politics after all and I can’t really fault him for that, but that doesn’t excuse the excessive references to religion. There is a better of way of bringing religion into play. For the record, I believe in Jinnah’s original idea of a Pakistan where people are free to live, irrespective of cast, religion, etc. However, that was 1947, and now we are the Islamic Republic of Pakistan and the idea of a secular state is as plausible as Shiv Sena winning the next elections.. in Pakistan.

I am a big believer of hope, and personally a believer in religion. However, religion is personal and though I don’t think it should be a big part of politics, the fact of the matter is that Islam is part of the constitution. Hope also needs to be tempered with realism. With a few adjustments, Imran Khan can avoid appearing as loony as Michelle Bachman, or as disappointing as Obama.

Friday, November 30, 2012

This past Wednesday,
on November 28th, 2012, after over 10 years of service to the Higher
Education Commission, my father was unceremoniously, and illegally, asked to
vacate his position. After failing to remove Dr. Syed Sohail Hussain Naqvi from
the HEC for the last few years, the Government decided to assign the additional
responsibility of the Executive Director of the HEC to the Secretary, Ministry
of Education and Trainings. In doing so they have, for the moment, created a
stalemate in the HEC since my father was appointed, as per law, by the full
Board of Governors of HEC (The Commission) and cannot be relieved of his duties
in this arbitrary manner. This is illegal because my father was recently given
a 4 year extension by the Commission consisting of people appointed by the Prime
Minister of Pakistan. Legally, the Prime Minister can appoint members of the
Commission, and that is where his powers end. Appointment of the Executive
Director is the prerogative of the Commission and not any other person or body,
including the Prime Minister of Pakistan.
Knowing of this restriction, the Pakistan People’s Party first tried to
declare the original appointment of my father in 2004 as Executive Director
back, as illegal. This argument is, of course, ridiculous as confirmed by no
less an authority than the best legal mind of the Pakistan People’s Party,
Aitzaz Ahsan, who stated that everything about that appointment process was absolutely
legal.

I
might be beginning to sound a bit long winded, but as the person in question is
my father, people will automatically assume that my bias will skew the facts. I
am simply trying to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that the government is
100% in the wrong. Of course with the PPP in power, that’s not going to be
hard. Why don’t we start by looking at the performance of the Higher Education
Commission over the last 10 years. The quality assurance system of Pakistan is
now universally acknowledged, 6 universities in Pakistan are internationally
ranked by QS Rankings and research publications have skyrocketed. Along with
this, the number of university campuses have increased from 168 to 258, which
has led to student enrollment to increase from 330,000 to over 1,000,000. In
this expansion of students in the higher education space, there has been a
particular focus on women. The percentage of women enrolled in universities has
gone up from 36% to 46%. Balochistan and FATA have also been a focus, with over
3000 scholarships launched for residents of those generally neglected areas of
Pakistan. In the first 55 years of Pakistan’s existence, we awarded 3,281 PhDs.
Over the last 10 years, since the founding of the HEC, Pakistan has had an
additional 4,850 PhDs. The research papers published by Pakistanis in
international research journals have gone up from 816 in 2002 to 6300 in
2012.

I
have barely begun to scratch the surface. I think it is fair to say that the HEC
has had a tremendously positive impact on the country. This of course is not
down to my father alone. Everyone from Dr. Atta-ur-Rehman to the gardeners and
security guards at HEC have played their part. That is not to say that the HEC
is perfect. There is a lot of room for improvement, and no one recognizes that
more than my father. He is constantly striving to learn from his mistakes, take
on the advice of others and grow and move forward. Not too long ago, he caught
an employee, Ms. Shaheen Khan, of his stealing money. Now even the most die-hard
PPP supporters that the HEC is nothing if not clean. Money laundering expertise
is a requirement for working in a PPP government, but since the HEC is an
autonomous body, to put it eloquently: that shit don’t fly here. Of course this
woman was welcomed back with open arms by the PPP, and has been a catalyst in
the demise of the HEC. She has also since then acquired a PhD which is reputed
to be an eloquent translation in Urdu of a lowly report.

Over
the last 5 years, ever since I got my license, I have had one bone to pick with
my dad. He never lets me drive the HEC car. Never. Perhaps when I first got my
license I could understand why, but when I last went home I was (and still am)
23, I had owned my own car for over 3 years and had driven well over 50,000km.
Yet, I was still confined to that piece of junk we own; a 2001 honda city. The
reason? The only people legally allowed to drive the car are the drivers, my
dad and my mom. So I am allowed to be driven from A to B with a driver, in the
Corolla, for my own errands, but yet I’m not allowed to drive. Ah well, that’s
the law, and that’s the way my father is. I disagree with that, my view is that
the car is for his use, and for his family to use. I am not about to take his
Corolla on a road trip to Gilgit and back, but it would be nice to be able to
go get a haircut without having to worry if the ol’ Honda can make it up the
next hill. Oh and by the way, while my family is rolling around town in the
Honda City, Shaheen Khan is tearing up the roads of Islamabad in a Mercedes.

Maybe
the issue is that my father is not qualified enough. I mean, integrity isn’t
going to solve our education problems alone. At the end of the day you need
someone smart to be running things. Let’s have a look then at Daddy’s LinkedIn.
In short, he graduated Hasan Abdal top of his class, graduated Purdue
University with a perfect 4.0 GPA and a PhD in refractive optics at the age of
25 , was a tenured professor at the University of New Mexico before the age of
30, helped start up a company which made cutting edge machines that measured
dimensions of nanometer sized structures, was the Dean of Electrical
Engineering at GIK Institute of Science & Technology, VP of Operations at
Enabling Technologies, and of course, Executive Director of the HEC for the
past 8 years, now internationally recognized as a model of higher education
reform in the world.

I
could go on forever, I really could, of my father’s amazing qualities,
attributes, and overall dedication to his country. I could not be prouder of
what my father has achieved already, and at 50 years he is only getting
started. I have seen him pour his heart and soul into a job, and the job has
been rewarding. He has fought for every bit of funding for the students of
Pakistan, he has travelled from Gilgit to Karachi viewing institutions
everywhere and taking in advice in how to improve them. He has earned the
respect of almost everyone he has come into contact with, whether they agree
with him or not. He taught me that being patriotic does not simply mean bellowing
the national anthem at the top of your lungs, it means putting in long hours at
a job when you know you could be making more money elsewhere. After 24 years of
working, he makes less today than his first salary! It
means putting up with the crap the politics in our country brings. It means
finding ways of being optimistic when everything around you is crumbling. It
means that when your own government tries to outs you for doing the right
thing, you simply go home to help your youngest son with his homework tonight.

Regardless
of how the Supreme Court rules, nothing can take away what my dad has done for
Pakistan. I leave you all with a praise of my father that has always resonated
most with my. Arif Kiyani is definitely someone none of you have ever heard of.
He has no relation to General Kiyani, far from that actually. He first started
to work for the University Grants Commission in 1989 as a driver, and was there
when it became the HEC in 2002. He has often told me of how much he admires the
conduct of my dad, but the best thing he said was “Sahab wo insaan hai jis ne
aaj tak mujhe ‘tu’ tak nahi kaha”. Loosely translated, it means my dad is
someone who has never once in all his years working with Arif Bhai addressed
him by ‘tu’, a casual and sometimes disrespectful way of addressing someone.
Our Holy Prophet once said you can judge a person by the way the treat people
in a lesser position. Please, by all means, judge away.

Sunday, November 4, 2012

For those of you who don’t know me, hi, my name
is Shazil Naqvi, and I am President, Prime Minister, Chief of Army Staff and King of the Friend Zone. Why, do you
ask, is this relevant at all? Well, I spent a good 30 minutes on the phone with
one of the other Rickshaw writers, catching up, talking about life and running
my latest blog idea by him. I wanted to write about ‘Drawing Room Politics’ and
Imran Khan. Boring, was Umair’s response. People are sick of redundant political
articles, and who wants to hear what an American educated Pakistani is writing
about from his drawing room in Ireland. Fair enough. The conversation then progressed
to Umair’s date, and I started laughing my ass off because it was the type of
date I have been on too many times: the friend date. You have no hope with the
girl, but your wallet gets a fair bit lighter. After arguing a bit, Umair
quickly realized my expertise on the matter, and I realized rather than
writing about Mr. Khan, perhaps I should stick to my strengths and write about
the dreaded friend zone.

Disclaimer:
These notes are in no way meant to help you avoid the friend zone. If I knew
how to do that, I wouldn’t be writing this damn thing. These are merely
observations of my time in the friend zone, and are meant to be enjoyed and
laughed at. I will try mixing some fiction in, so that I can try and mask some
of the identity of friends to spare them some embarrassment. It may sound like
I’m giving out advice here, but for the most part I’m just talking to myself.

1. The
‘playa’ cousin: Here I will not try in the least bit to
hide the identify of this person. My best friend in the entire world also
happens to be my cousin, who is 18 months older. Over the years, good ol’ cuz
and I have taken a, shall we say, different approach to life. We are polar
opposites, but that’s why we make such a good pair. The only reason he knows
the friend zone exists is because I live here. He himself has no problems when
it comes to women. In fact, the last time we hung out was at a wedding, and I
watched as he walked by a crowd of girls who all turned for a second glance and
then started giggling. My point here is one would think having a cousin who is
your best friend being such a ladies man would help your game, right? FALSE.
Since my cousin and I have such a fundamentally different approach to life, he
is unable to understand my failings, and therefore cannot really help me. So
instead he finds the funny side of it all as he recognizes he can’t help. This
has dire consequences, as any girl even loosely associated with him becomes out
of the question. Either he has some interest in them himself, with his “shazil
don’t ever close any doors” philosophy, or he has brought these girls in on the
joke that is shazil’s (lack of a) lovelife. Mostly it’s a case of both. In any
case, my first note from the friend zone is that having a playa cousin doesn’t
help.

2. texting/iMessage/WhatsApp/gchat/fbchat/anything:
So you think you’ve done the hard part, gotten a girl’s number, or added her on
facebook. Once upon a time, getting a girls number was reason to celebrate,
shout from the highest rooftop, or go yell in someone’s face “How do you like
them apples?” Not really the case anymore. If anything, getting the number is the
easy part. Once you get the number you need to decide what in God’s name you
are going to do with it. You can’t call, who does that anymore… or can you? I
mean go old fashioned, right? Nope, let’s stick to texting. Okay.. how do you
start that? Eventually you get the hang of how to text, except here is where I
still struggle. Girls are amazing at showing just enough interest to keep you
interested, but you are still doing all the heavy lifting. However, if you find
yourself sending 4 or 5 texts for every text she sends, and having to ALWAYS
initiate conversation, give up man. Here is an example of a text or chat
message I might send: “So how much do you miss me?” Ugh. Hurts to admit I have
texted that to more than one girl. Here is the response: “Haha”. Not
“hahahahaha”. Just “Haha”. Sometimes they will proceed to ask how you are
doing, you respond, and that’s the end. Too much effort just to get a “Haha”.

3.
Coworkers: Having only been in the workforce for just over a year, and only
having had one job, I’m still a learner in this department. Here is what I’ve
learned so far. Not a good idea. This may sound like a cliché , but I’m saying
this from personal experience, here is why. At work, you can’t really choose
your coworkers like you can choose your friends. They’re just there, and you
have to make do with them. So automatically you have to endeavor beyond a
natural amount to try and get along with them. You might luck out, like me, and
work with truly wonderful people, and develop amazing lifelong friendships from
work. Key word here being friendships. In any work environment, it would
be very easy to mistake a few good conversations over gchat to be sparks. I
don’t care what eharmony says, sparks don’t fly online. Also, going back to an
early point, if you initiating all these conversations, no matter how much you
enjoy them, it’s a bad sign. You’ll probably just end up wasting your time
trying to time your trips to the kitchen to coincide with hers, and most of the
time you’ll walk on by without saying a word. Every time you buy yourself a
snack, you buy her a snack, and someone else in the office too in a weak
attempt to hide what you are actually doing. If you want to buy someone food, buy your guy
friends food. Everyone has that “Jughead” friend who can eat and eat and eat,
manage to stay insanely in shape, and they always appreciate being brought any
type of food. It’s a way more rewarding experience. That reminds me, I need to
send some food to a buddy in Hoboken, probably needs the ration anyway.

4. There
is a league: Have you ever seen the movie “She’s out of my league”? It’s
about this guy who is a 5, who happens to start dating a 10 (these are the
movies ratings, not mine, I agree with the girl being a 10 though). Of course
in the end, guy gets girl. This movie is the cruelest movie ever made. It is a
lie, and fills your heart with false hope. Again, I’m not just saying this; sadly
my observation is again based on personal experience. Senior year of college, I
ran into this girl at a party who was in my dorm freshman year. This girl was
of course stunningly gorgeous, in fact I later learned she was actually a
model, along with being a fashion designer and entrepreneur. Damn impressive
woman. Now freshman year having just arrived fresh of the boat from an all boys
boarding school in Pakistan, I had no clue what to do say, so obviously I said
nothing. Fast forward a few years and I learned what to say: “Hi my name is
Shaz” (note: not Shazil, takes forever to explain how to pronounce and the
moment will be lost). Well that was easy enough. I had a great conversation
with her, but left the party without her number. My college roommate, who God
bless his soul did his level best to get me out of the friend zone, told me to
march back in there and get her number, so I did. I felt like I had just
conquered the world. So much so that I even asked her out on a date, to grab coffee
(or so I thought, stay tuned). We had a lovely, well can’t call a date, so
let’s say a lovely rendezvous. Talked for 2 hours in my favorite little coffee
shop in Ann Arbor, Comet Coffee. Got a nice little hug at the end of the night
(if that doesn’t spell friend zone I don’t know what does) and that was it.
When I got home, that same roommate was appalled that I hadn’t set a follow up,
and demanded I call her up and ask her out for dinner. So I did. The next day I
damaged my ankle ligaments playing soccer, an old high school history, and
while I was on the X-ray table in some amount of pain, my “date” called me up
to tell me actually she had a boyfriend. At this point I just started laughing,
didn’t say much, hung up and I don’t believe ever talked to her again. I regret
that, she was amazingly cool. I am LinkedIn with her though!

5.
Your other cousin’s friends: This is how I like to view the world. Most of the
beautiful women in the world are Pakistani, at least in my eyes. And the most
beautiful Pakistanis are Lahoris. And all beautiful Lahori girls go to one
school: LGS Defense (an all girls K-12 school). Now, it may just happen that your
cousin, who is only a year younger than you went to this school. Perfect! You
have an in! You even get along with this cousin like she is your twin. This
will work out great, right? Nope, not even close. What ends up happening is that almost
automatically you end up taking on the same role with these girls as you have
with your cousin: bhai (brother). You will end up driving them around during
weddings, picking and dropping from train stations, being the typical friend,
but you never really have a chance of forming a relationship after having
started off as a bhai. This of course has disastrous consequences, as your
cousin happens to be the most popular girl in Lahore. That wipes out the city
of Lahore, and if you can’t have a Lahori girlfriend, no point in having one at
all.

6. Swinging for the fences: After years of
getting no where with your approach of wanting to get to know someone first,
one might be inclined to go swinging for the fences the next time they are
smitten. In theory this sounds like perfect, finally from the get go your going
to let a girl exactly how you feel, rather than meandering through the friend
zone. Here is the problem, you will meet someone incredibly gorgeous, and more
importantly, with an amazing personality to go with her looks. So you will let
her know exactly how highly you think of her, how your jaw drops every time you
see her, and that your heart skips a beat every time you even think of her
smiling. Of course first you do this via texting, but emboldened by your new approach
you have the gall to tell her in person of her magical smile, effortless grace,
I could go on. I mean this girl turns the most ordinary of into a charmer whose
dialogues could rival any Shakespeare love story. Problem is, no one is ever
going to take you seriously with this approach. The age of the hopeless
romantic has gone, and all of this effort is rather wasted. Well not entirely
wasted, it’s endearing, in a, you know, friendly way.

7. Siblings:
It’s one thing to take the piss out of yourself. It’s another thing altogether
for your younger siblings to be doing this. You see, my younger sister and
brother have had no such problems with relationships, and good for them. Of
course this means that big brother becomes the target for a bit of fun. My grandmother
recently called me up in a panic about my being single, and told me to even get
an Irish girl. Can you imagine how frazzled a Pakistani grandmother must be to
encourage her eldest grandchild to get an Irish wife? This was all because my
sister, being the absolute delight that she is, had a bit of fun with poor ol’
grandma and convinced her that it is very worrying that her 26 year old
grandson has never had a girlfriend. I’m 23, and my sister is well aware of
this. She could barely control her laugher when I called her about it. On a
side note, if you find yourself pouring your heart out to your younger sister’s
even younger boyfriend about how the door may be permanently closing for the
love of your life, you got problems.

8. How about a
hug instead?: Regardless of how hopeless you perceive yourself to be,
everyone gets chances. Even me. Before my last year in high school in Lahore, I
spent a summer at Brown taking some summer courses. This was my first real
experience of living and interacting with girls my own age, as at the time I
was still living large at my all boys boarding school back home. I learnt a lot
that summer, and of course made it to the friend zone in record time with most
of the girls there. However, probably my high school buddies favourite part of
my stories from this summer, is when a girl asked to cuddle with me, and my
response was: “How about a hug instead?” Point here is that it on occasion will
take great effort to stay in the friend zone on your part, whether it’s avoiding
a girl who came to a summer camp especially to spend time with you, or avoiding
a girl on the dance floor who is eyeing you up. For the most part, you won’t
really regret staying in the friend zone, or no zone at all with these
advances. For the most part, that is.

9. Girls with
boyfriends: Maybe the problem then is that you want to be in the friend
zone, it’s comfortable, safe and low risk. How do you know if you are
comfortable in the friend zone? A good indication of this is when you find a
large amount of your crushes are on girls with boyfriends. It’s the safest play
in the friend zone book. You can develop a friendship with someone you have a
genuine interest in, never have to make a move, and still go to bed with a
smile on your face thinking about her. Because she has a boyfriend, none of
your friends will push you to do anything, and you’re more than happy with the
odd cup of coffee or lunch together. You can even go Dutch on the bills. And
eventually you will just come to terms with the fact that this girl is just a
friend. Problem is I have definitely met a girl or two who would be PERFECT if
they were single. It just so happened at the time they had a boyfriend,
sometimes in England, sometimes in New York, and even if they are single later,
you got to know them when they weren’t and that’s it. One of the many drawbacks
of being in the zone.

10. Enjoy it!:
For all my grumbling and rambling about the friend zone, I’m really only taking
the piss out of myself. I actually love the friend zone. It means I have an
abundance of friends, and who doesn’t love more friends! Most of the girls I
liked at some point have gone on to be my greatest friends. In fact I really
regret not keeping in touch with the girl I mentioned earlier who was the model
and ended up having a boyfriend. So what? She was cool, and I definitely wasn’t
going to marry her, but I could have at least had a friend who was up and
coming in the fashion industry and was wicked cool. Pretty girls have enough
guys trying to avoid the friend zone, even by being a sleaze ball. You don't need to
try and follow them. Eventually you’ll find someone who loves you after liking
you. It’s possible. In the meantime, I will continue
ruling over the friend zone till my mom/grandmoms/aunts/everyone starts getting
after my life to get married. But that’s a good few years away. Of course, in
those few years the one that really got away might get away forever. In that
case, rock out to Daler Mehndi, and rock on in life!

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Graduation
is approaching once again in Ann Arbor, a scary sight for recent alumni. It
means that I have been out of college for a full year now, while my co-drivers
at the rickshaw have been out of college for 2 years. 2 years is also about the
age of our doomed blog, as it was Emad and Umair’s departure from Ann Arbor
that prompted us to start this blog, a way to keep in touch and share our views
to the world. The idea was to be different, fresh and relevant.

Fast
forward 2 years and we are about as relevant as relevant and fresh as Margaret
Thatcher. I can’t speak for the other two dimwits who write this blog with me,
but personally the biggest challenge has been avoiding the general rhetoric
that one sees in oped pages in our newspapers. Everyone has an opinion and thinks that they are right, without quantifying it with research. In an ideal world, I
would like to write on things with a solid base of research, but having a job
tends to get in the way of that (not to mention I don't write for a newspaper!)

What
eventually inspired me to stop procrastinating and start up the rickshaw again
was attending a panel discussion in DC about Pakistan, led by none other than
our dynamic Finance Minister Dr. Hafeez Sheikh and the new ambassador to the
US, Sherry Rehman. The title of the discussion was ‘Pakistan: The Untold
Story’. Umair happened to accompany me to this particular event, and we both
were bemused and frustrated by the level of discussion. The purpose of the
event, a small gathering held at the World Bank, was to tell people that it is
not all doom and gloom in Pakistan. I thought it was a brilliant idea, get the
academic community in DC jazzed about Pakistan, and to get them to look beyond
the negativity that surrounds the country. However, what ended up happening was
that the Pakistanis on the panel began to paint a picture of sunshine and roses
blooming back home - i.e. they took 'positive' to a whole different level.

Let me give you a few examples. When asked “What
inspires you about Pakistan”, Dr. Sheikh started with the most generic and boring
answer under the sun (not very inspiring at all). It seemed he was doing his best to put the
audience to sleep, and he succeeded as I shit you not, the woman sitting next
to me was snoozing 10 minutes into Hafeez sahab opening his mouth. I, however,
was well aware of this tactic of the Finance Minister, and used all my training
of college to stay alert and attentive to what he was saying. It was rambling
about how the poetry of Faaiz inspires him, or some story of a trip of his to
Sindh and how that inspired him. One thing that did stick out to me was how he
mentioned the “Physics of Prof. Abdus Salaam”. Prof. Salaam of
course was the first and only Pakistani to win a Nobel Prize, but has been
shunned in history because of being an Ahmadi. It is quite sad how our greatest
ever achievement as a nation has been hidden from most of the population
because of Prof. Salam’s religious orientation. So to say Prof. Salaam inspires
him while he continues to be a part of a government that ignores crimes against
Ahmadis is strange.

Another
Pakistani on the panel, Mohsin Khan, was far more entertaining. Somehow he had
a British accent even though he grew up in Pakistan and lives in DC, but
who am I to judge. Anyway, on to more trivial things like the content of what
he was saying; Mohsin sahab is off the opinion that the economy is “booming”.
To be a little more fair to Mr. Khan’s comment, he further elaborated by saying
the “informal economy” is booming. So basically, the only part of the economy
that is booming is the part which we by definition cannot quantify. Even if the
informal economy is growing, it is doing little to affect the single most
important economic issue in Pakistan: inflation. It’s hard to imagine an economy “booming”
with the inflation levels we have. I did agree with Mr. Khan’s point though
that we should attempt to formalize the informal sector as part of a broader program of regulation, privatization and increased taxation

However, my favorite performance of the Pakistani trio was Ambassador Rehman. She
started off her segment by trying to explain how because she was the least
qualified person on the panel, she should get the most time to explain her
point of view and tried to make a joke of it. No one really laughed, I think
everyone was about as confused as I was. The Ambassador then proceeded to
ramble on about so many things that I’m still scratching my head to figure out
what she exactly said. At some point she mentioned passing the Sexual Harassment
Law, which is a good achievement and worth noting. But other than that, it is
extremely hard to track what exactly she was trying to say. The question originally was again, “What inspires you”, and she made..
well.. a mess of it. She also way ran over her time, kept joking about how she
was ticking off the moderator, and kept going. The moderator had the last laugh though,
Ambassador Rehman was not given the opportunity to speak again (Thank God).

The
goras on the panel were a refreshing change I must say. Much better at
answering the questions at hand, and Anatol Lievin in particular was very
practical about his responses. He talked about the potential in Pakistan,
but also about the challenges that lay ahead - something the others missed completely. The one thing all goras brought
up that was echoed by our beloved Pakistani panelists was the level of
philanthropy in in the country, and how it was unrivaled anywhere in the world. I
strongly agree with this point, as Pakistanis as a people have very open
hearts, and are always willing to give to a good cause, even the middle income
folks struggling to cope with rampant inflation in the country. The problem
is a lot of this money is misdirected. If we can better utilize this trait of
Pakistani, perhaps get the nation to believe in a system where tax goes to
development rather than lining the pockets of the corrupt, we could have
something. It was nice to hear though people with experience from all over the
world, singling out the philanthropy of Pakistanis as something that inspires
them.

At the
end of the day, things are bad in Pakistan. Talking about the poetry of Faaiz
or the informal economy is not fooling anyone. The level of discussion was poor
from the representatives of Pakistan. They were speaking as if the audience was
a bunch of rednecks who can’t separate Pakistan from Yemen. That was not the
case. The World Bank crowd is trained at identifying bullshit from corrupt
nations so that they don’t waste their funding. Hafeez Sheikh in particular
gave no reason for anyone to believe things are brighter in Pakistan. The
approach, in my view, should have been to recognize the trials facing the
country and chart out a plan to tackle them. Instead the focus was on trying to
ignore that and point out a few rosy facts about Pakistan. That is the problem
with the PPP government. Ask anybody, literally anybody, what they think about
their performance in office and without hesitation they will tell you it is
utterly awful. However, everyone in the PPP seems to think they have done a
damn good job. Sure, they did a few good things, but just about every
leadership system in Pakistan minus Zia has done something positive in 4 years of
power. If the takeaway is that they are better than Zia, then we are doomed.

This
article is a little uncharacteristic for me, as I like optimism, especially
about Pakistan. However, the views expressed by Sherry Rehman and Hafeez Sheikh
in particular border on denial of the current state of affairs. Problems aren’t
fixed by ignoring them. Anyway, that is enough grim stuff for now, it was still
fun to get to see policy makers in action while being so far from home, and
there were a few good takeaways too. I hope this article gets us on our way,
Emad is off from class this summer and will return home so will have more time
to write, and my harassing will certainly help him get out of his rut. Umair I
see every week, so he better write soon. Those two are far better writers and
too intelligent to not have their voices heard.

Monday, January 23, 2012

The rickshaw has been stalled for quite some time. Over 9 months to be exact. And with the other two writers, who by the way are much better writers, being far busier in life then myself, the onus has fallen on me to restart it. So I’d like to blame the gas shortage for the lack of our rickshaw making the rounds, but our rickshaw runs on a different sort of fuel – usually cricket.

Cheesy analogies aside, I couldn’t help but write something this past weekend, for something monumental has happened in the last week that simply cannot be ignored, not even by us lazy rickshaw writers. If you haven’t heard, England is paying a visit to the United Arab Emirates. After smashing the former No. 1 side in Tests, i.e. India, 4-0 at home, England took their place at the top of the perch, and were keen to show the world they can do it in Asia as well. Of course, Pakistan has been in good nick as well, though beating Bangladesh is never really anything to write home about; Sri Lanka are quickly getting worse as time goes on; and we didn’t even manage to beat the woeful West Indies outright. Still we had some form coming in, and were relishing the test.

The fact that we managed to beat England inside 3 days by 10 wickets is beyond amazing, for many reasons. The problems of Pakistan cricket with the spot-fixing scandal are well documented. Added to the mix was a crazy captain who retired from cricket only to return months later, a mad Chairman of the Board who finally got replaced, a coach who quit because of the mad captain, and jail sentences for the Pakistani cricketer involved in the spot-fixing crisis. What you end up with then is the normal stew of Pakistan cricket: power politics, inconsistency, and wacky decision-making. It has to be said, though, that this team has been different. Misbah-ul-Haq may just manage to pull of the most incredible feat in the history of Pakistan cricket: being forgiven for losing a match against India in the World Cup. Under his leadership there is a calm and stability amongst the team that I certainly have never seen, and I doubt few have. Even in the days of Imran Khan there was an element of drama. Yet at 37 years young, Misbah has managed to do what so few Pakistani captains have done before him: get his boys to play as a team.

Now comes the sad part. The test match was played in front of a few hundred supporters – a pity because this performance by the Pakistanis deserved a much better audience. Pakistan has been stripped of its rights to host cricket since the infamous shooting on the Sri Lanka cricket team. Cricket has always been an escape for us, and we have never needed a victory more than we do now. With corruption, inflation, gas shortage, electricity shortage and terrorism only a few of the things tearing the country apart, we really needed a lift like this. But imagine for a second, instead of the winning being runs in front of a few drunken Barmy Army supporters and the odd unemployed Pakistani in Dubai, that the match had instead been played in Lahore. Offices would be flooded with sick leave requests, school attendances would be at an all-time low, stores that open around noon normally wouldn’t even bother opening. Instead, the whole of Lahore would be making its way over to Gaddafi Stadium (which surprisingly has not been renamed after Bhutto like everything else this godforsaken government has gotten their hands on). The last time I saw a test match at Gaddafi, I had to sneak away in the trunk of my cousin’s car to get out of boarding school. This time around, I’m sure the my housemaster would have chartered buses to get the boys to the ground

At the moment, the buzzing of Gaddafi stadium upon the return of cricket is simply a romantic notion in my head. It shouldn’t remain that way, however. Pakistan has a list of issues longer than the Nile, Ganges and Indus put together. That does not mean we should overlook the lack of international cricket on home soil. For all the shit that we go through, we certainly deserve the opportunity to be able to take a break from it all and shout at the top of our lungs for a team that for the first time in my life at least is consistently good in the Test arena.

Wishing the return of cricket won’t make it come true. The PCB and the Government both have a role to play in ensuring that Pakistan once again hosts the greatest game there is at the international level. Bangladesh are set to tour Pakistan in April, in essence after being bribed to do so. The security for that visit needs to be far better than what it was for Sri Lanka. Speaking of which, the culprits of the Sri Lanka shootings need to be apprehended. Easier said than done, I’m sure, but it should have been of the highest priority to start off with to track down the reason behind the shootings. The domestic circuit of cricket also needs to be strengthened. Pakistan needs to be able to host domestic tournaments successfully before thinking about inviting teams other than Bangladesh or Zimbabwe. Perhaps the absence of international cricket can give the PCB an opportunity to figure out a way to get crowds to the Quaid-e-Azam trophy. These are only a few of many steps that can be taken to get us back on track to re-enter the fold of international cricket. Let’s hope that if Imran Khan is able to continue his ‘tsunami’ and gets to the top, he won’t forget about the game that got him there. In the meantime, we can all continue to enjoy the phenomenal rise of Misbah’s men!

Friday, April 8, 2011

9 years ago, 2 exceptional men moved from the Information and Technology Ministry to the newly founded Higher Education Commission, an autonomous entity that was replacing the well-meaning but largely ineffective University Grants Commission. One was, of course, Dr. Ata ur Rehman, whose reputation precedes him. I could spend this entire article raving about Dr. Ata, who got his Ph.D. in organic chemistry from Cambridge. He has won domestic and international accolades for his outstanding contributions in the field of science and academics. I refer you to his Wikipedia page for a more comprehensive list of his achievements. The other person was my father, Dr. Sohail Naqvi. Over the last 9 years, I have seen first-hand how my father has poured his heart and soul into working towards the betterment of this country. It was, therefore, one of the saddest moments of my life when my mother called me a couple of weeks back to confirm the rumors the HEC was indeed being disbanded. Here is why you should be heartbroken about this as well:

Let me start by highlighting a few things HEC has done since it’s inauguration in 2002. Perhaps the most prominent stat is the incredible number of Ph.D. students that the HEC has helped produce. Between1947 to 2002, Pakistan produced roughly 3000 Ph.D. students. After the HEC was founded in 2002, Pakistan produced 3280 Ph.D. students in 8 years. That, of course, has helped research output grow six-fold since 2002. Second, while there have been accusations that HEC has over-invested in Punjab, the biggest investment by share has been in Khyberpakhtunkhwa. New universities have been set up in Bannu, Kohat, Malakand, Swat and Mardan. Balochistan has also seen an uptick in higher education, with 4 universities added to the 2 that already existed in 2002. Finally, there are currently over 7,500 HEC-funded scholars pursuing their Ph.Ds locally and abroad. All of these scholars are now in jeopardy of losing their scholarships as the governments tries to deal with the mess they have created. This is just scratching the surface of what HEC has accomplished, for a more comprehensive list of achievements please refer to this document, which has provided the basis for most of the facts in this article.

Moving on, let us get to the part where the government dissolves the HEC, despite opposition from almost all other major political parties including the PML-N, MQM, JI and PTI. This is being done under the direction of Raza Rabbani, the chairman of the implementation committee of the 18th Amendment. To clarify, HEC is not against devolution per se; it had, for example, already started to devolve many important tasks like faculty training to the provincial level. That, however, is only a small part of what HEC does: most tasks simply cannot be devolved efficiently. The 18th Amendment recognized this and put in place many provisions to protect the functions of HEC. An example is the following exerpt from the 18th Amendment, which highlight integral functions of the HEC:

Fourth Schedule [Article 70(4)]: Federal Legislative List Part I

Item # 16: Federal agencies and institutes for the following purposes, that is to say, for research, for professional or technical training, or for the promotion of special studies.

Item # 17: Education as respects Pakistani students in foreign countries and foreign students in Pakistan.

Item # 32: International treaties, conventions and agreements and International arbitration.

Item # 59: Matters incidental or ancillary to any matter enumerated in this Part.

To find a way around this, Raza Rabbani and his Committee have decided to play musical chairs with the functions of the HEC that cannot be devolved. For example, the degree verification function is being transferred from the HEC to the cabinet division. This, beyond its recent role in determining eligibility for public office, is of vital importance. In order for anyone to be able to seek work outside Pakistan, they had to get their degree verified by the HEC. This is in part because HEC has earned membership of the Asia Pacific Quality Network, as well as the Network of Quality Assurance Agencies of the World. These prestigious memberships are not transferable, so the international recognition of Pakistani degrees will be devalued once the Cabinet Ministry takes over verification duties. Despite this, under the plan to dissolve the HEC degree attestation will come under the cabinet division, and the hard work done by the HEC in establishing the credibility of a Pakistani degree will be lost. Instead, people like Rehman Malik and company will be in charge of determining validity of Pakistanis' degrees.

As alluded to earlier, one of the many drawbacks of this dissolution plan is that the funding and studies of Pakistani scholars studying abroad through HEC programs would be in jeopardy. This is another function of HEC that is not being devolved, but simply being moved to the Ministry of Inter-Provincial Coordination, where Raza Rabanni himself is the minister. These programs are under jeopardy because they are being funded through loans coming from the IMF and World Bank, as the government allocated zero funding towards the HEC in the past fiscal year. The World Bank and USAID came to the rescue, giving HEC loans of US $300 million and US $250 million respectively. These loans are contingent on the assumption that HEC stays as it is, so Raza Rabanni’s recent assurance in the press that these scholars would be unaffected by this move is simply untrue.

This is only the beginning of our defense of HEC here at the rickshaw. Hopefully we will have more literature up for you in the coming days about all aspects of the dissolution of HEC. For now, please join the movement to stop this madness on Facebook at: http://www.causes.com/causes/597948.

Thursday, March 31, 2011

In the lead up to what undoubtedly is the most important cricket match I have witnessed in my life I read probably over 100 articles about the epic India-Pakistan semi-final. Many of them were fascinating to read, including an article from the Times of India about the Punjabi connection this match was facilitating. However, there was one in particular I disagreed with; the ‘Dil Bolay Boom Boom’ article. To sum up, basically the Pakistani writer here says she just simply can’t watch an India cricket game with her dear Indian friend. No two nations in the world love cricket more than India and Pakistan, and fans of these two countries should be able to watch games together. I, therefore, was all too happy to confirm my involvement in a joint screening of the cricket match on campus.

So come the day, finally, and my guess that not too many fair weather fans would show up at 4 am was way off. The Michigan Cricket Association did a brilliant job organizing the screening of the match on campus, and an hour before the match started the crowd started to trickle in. By the time of the toss there was a good 150 odd people in a room not built for more than 70, but what good would a India-Pakistan game be if we weren’t packed like a can of sardines. The noise level was incredible, with the Indians accounting for a good chunk of that. In our crowd which eventually grew close to 300, Indians outnumbered Pakistanis by, I’d say, at least 4:1. That didn’t deter us one bit, we were being heard as well. No one had a hope in hell of hearing the toss, our crowd was just too raucous.

With such a momentous occasion it was hard not to be a bit nervous about things perhaps going south with some of the animosity that can naturally exist between the two nations. However, MCA did a brilliant job of making sure everyone was able to watch the game in the right spirit. There, of course, were a few incidents that in hindsight should have been avoided but really nothing more than a blip on the radar. For the most part the atmosphere was sublime. The Indians cheered every boundary with amazing fervor, and not two overs passed with a chant for the god of batting: ‘saaccchiiinnnnn sachin!’ Of course, we did our best, amusing the Indians with our ‘tara-rere-roro-ra’ chant. The best part was that everyone was joining in, from unknown grad students who randomly stopped by to freshmen still finding their way: no one was holding back anything. I must admit I tried to stay calm but when Wahab bhai shattered the stumps of Yuvraj Singh, I was overcome with sheer elation. I beat my chest so many times and so hard I knocked my own breath out, but thankfully no one noticed in the commotion! The Pakistanis overall were a joy to watch the match with. They were all well behaved, kept their cool and showed incredible grace as our team headed towards the exit door.

The second innings was a much calmer affair. We shifted to a larger room and there was more segregation. People were also losing steam, as the all-nighters start to catch up and the voices slowly disappeared. However, they came roaring back on the Indian side when Kamran Akmal got caught at point for about the 10,000th time of his career. Hafeez’s dismissal brought more noise in anger from the Pakistanis than it did in joy for the Indians. The match was close enough that the Indians were nervous till the end, but the balance shifted with one magic ball. Bhajji came round the wicket with the newer ball after the mandatory change and Umar Akmal played all around a delivery that crashed into his off-stump. Pakistan may still have had a chance if we took that damn batting powerplay early. People may blame Afridi all they want, the real culprit in my eyes is Waqar Younis. As the coach, he is responsible for the poor tactical decisions made right throughout this tournament about the timing of the batting powerplays.

Take nothing away from the Indians. They were the better team and deserved to win on the day. Sachin may have been lucky to win the man of the match, but if anyone deserves a bit of luck, it is the batting god himself. Dhoni was spot on with all of his bowling changes, and only had to use 5 bowlers. The contest was fitting for the hype, and sets a stage fit for two legends to bow out. I don’t think Sachin is about to retire but I highly doubt he is going to be around when he is 41 although you never know, but it’s a safe bet to say this is his last World Cup. The other legend who is in my eyes equally great is of course the one and only Muttiah Muralitharan, whose spelling changes as often as Razzaq’s so forgive me if I don’t have the updated version of his spelling. Where Sachin has 99 tons, Murali has over 1300 wickets. Sachin is the leading runs scorer in both firms of the game, Murali is the leading wicket taker in both forms of the game. The difference is of course Sachin is at home while Murali already has a World Cup title. Whatever the outcome at least one great will end his stellar career right on top. I am going to watch the game as a true neutral. Sri Lanka has always been my second favorite team since the days of the magical Arivinda de Silva which is why I may lean towards them. I will not however root against India, some might and that’s fine, but I have no qualms about enjoying good Indian cricket.

But this is not about a preview of the final or a breakdown of the match. What moved me to write this article was the camaraderie between two amazing countries. Over the last four years at college, I have developed the most fantastic relationships with Indians stretching from Delhi to Bangalore and beyond. This match did not for one second jeopardize those friendships, in fact it strengthened them. When the final wicket of Misbah fell, before celebrating, Nirmit Agarwala, the president of MCA and the leading voice on the Indian side came over to the Pakistani side and congratulated and consoled each one of us. This was followed by my normal gang: Anant, Varun, Aaron, Baliga and many more. There was no taunting, no jeering, just cheering for a great victory. The experience of losing to India with 200-odd other Indians remains a shattering one, and the pain is here to stay for some time. However, as long as I have friends like these on both sides of the border, it is a pain I can live with.

Friday, January 28, 2011

10. Red hawk: A quiet bar which normally caters to an older crowd, Red Hawk actually has a bit to offer for college students. If you are looking for a place to go chill out, play some cards and have some nice conversation, Red Hawk is the place for you!X-factor: They have root beer on tap. ON TAP!

9. Scorekeepers: An honorable mention to my past employers, Skeeps is not exactly the most upscale place in town but it can be loads of fun. Tuesday, Thursday or Saturday nights it’s the place to be if you are looking for a crazy time with lots of people.X-factor: Best staff in town. Fact.

8. Jolly Pumpkin: I really liked this place in my inaugural visit a couple of weeks back. It would be rude not to include them since they have a special section on their menu for non-alcoholic beverages. X-factor: The ambiance. The lighting is simply fantastic, surprisingly rare for bars around here as Ricks and Skeeps so aptly demonstrate.

7. Connors: No town in America would be complete without an Irish bar, there is one on every block in new york for crying out loud. Connors is good for catching a champions league games, the food is great and reasonably priced. X-Factor: Bread pudding. Amazingly good and at a couple of bucks a real bargain!

6. Bab’s: A less known bar located just behind Main Street on Ashley’s, this place was quite the discovery for me. It is underground with two layers in the bar and a unique ambiance inside. There are pool tables to chill out or at the lower level a nice social area to mingle.X- factor: It actually is a cigar lounge!

5. Heidelberg: The restaurant itself would make this place worth visiting, the bar underground just adds to the appeal. Even on slow nights the atmosphere down there is alive, I attribute that to the unique architecture. My housemate tried to explain how it had some awesome acoustic set-up, all I know is that it works!X-factor: This place has the best Wiener schnitzel this side of the Huron River.

4. Bar Loiue: if there is a straight laced honest to goodness Muslim in this world it’s my father, and I took him to Bar Loiue when he came to visit me two years ago. He loved it. The food is awesome, and their virgin pina-colada reminded me of Papasallis back home in Islamabad.X-factor: Dollar burger Tuesdays. Need I say more?

3. Charley’s: Everybody’s favorite college bar, Charley’s is the place to be. It has by God the greasiest food I have come across since Blimpy, and it is so good. The burgers just drip with deliciousness (except for the veggie burgers, please don’t try it, I did, took me weeks to get the taste out). The root beer float is nothing fancy, just IBC and ice cream but something about the atmosphere makes it taste so much better!X-factor: Pizza sticks. Whether you go for the non-pork option like me or the pepperoni sticks like the rest of the world, you can’t go wrong. I should probably warn you that you might die of a heart attack eating these things, but you will die in bliss!

2. Rush Street: No root beer. No food. No worries. If you want to get down tonight, go to rush street. It has the most insane beat going through the club. And the crowd there is high class, none of that Rick’s garbage. I used to be a shy dancer, barely busting a move. Then I went to rush street and could not help myself. X-factor: Live drums on the dance floor. There is this guy playing the bongos and some other drums and the cymbals, matching up the beat to what the DJ is spinning. Insane.

1. Ashley’s: The best of the best, Ashley’s will always be my No. 1 bar to go to. The BBQ burger is about as good as I have ever had, the pesto fries are delicious but way better are the curry fries. The only way I can explain them really is if someone poured haleem on fries, what a bloody brilliant idea! X-factor: You guessed it- root beer! The root beer from the gun is awesome, cheap and refills are free! If you are in a fancier mood as I sometimes am, root beer is also served of some brand I can’t remember. It is expensive at just over 3 bucks but wow is it worth it!

Friday, January 21, 2011

So a lot of our stuff has been quite serious lately, and we have lost focus of the most important thing in the world, SPORTS! Here is the rundown of sport stories the Rickshaw has been following:

Hearings of Asif, Aamer and Butt: After months of speculation and venting, we finally get to the point where the three musketeers were supposed to be dished out their punishment. Oh wait, the damn verdict was delayed to the 5th of February. Now I am not in favor of allowing any of these three to play in the World Cup, but this delay basically all rules them out of our World Cup Squad without any conviction which is just stupid. Zaheer Abbas called the delay ‘absurd’ and I have to agree with the master batsman. The funny thing is that during the hearings the three started to turn on each other, each of them having a different version of events and Butt seemed to come off the worse; he is now the only player to be under investigation for the Oval Test as well as the Lord’s Test. I have no idea what is going to happen, but it looks like Aamer may get off easier than the others, which a lot of people are okay with. Personally, I would like to see some remorse from him and a public apology but whatever, as long as the other two morons get put away I will be happy, especially Butt!

New Zealand Tour: In the midst of the madness of the hearings Pakistan cricket continued in traditional fashion. Martin Guptill, who no longer has to deal with his worst nightmare Aamer, put Pakistanis to the sword in the first two T20s as the kiwis easily won the series. In the last T20, though, Pakistan murdered and I mean MURDERED the kiwis. Never in all my life have I seen a scorecard like this one, the first 4 batsmen had ducks! Typical. Moving on, Pakistan managed to win its first test series since 2006 as Misbah has just caught fire lately. Well done Pakistan! Shame on those who say test cricket is dead, I love every second of it! Anyway that ODI’s start later today, and a strong looking Pakistan start as favorite, what do you know!

Michigan Football on the UP! After a New Year’s mauling at the hand of Mississippi State former pizza extraordinaire and current Athletic Director Dave Brandon got rid of Rich Rod. Goodbye and good riddance. Thanks for the 3 most miserable of the 4 years I got to enjoy the Big House. At least he got Denard up here though, and he is here to stay! New coach Brady Hoke managed to convince the most dynamic guy on the planet to stay, and why wouldn’t he? He is a god amongst men on campus here. I see him often in the Union, still working up the courage to say hi, one of these days… Anyway, the most awesome thing to happen after Hoke getting hired was that somehow, almost inexplicably he recruited former Ravens defensive coordinator Greg Mattison to be the defensive coordinator here. The Ravens have consisitently had the most awesome defense in the league over the past couple of years, and his hire will help us get back on the map. Michigan is on its way back baby, watch out! I don’t know what 2012 holds in store for me, but I know that even if I have to sell my house and car and goats and camels and cows, I will in order to get to Cowboys Stadium to watch Michigan vs. Alabama. Be there!

Rafa Slam: Finally our eyes turn to the Down Under where Rafael Nadal is going for the ‘Rafa Slam’. Rafa has won the last three majors and will go for an unprecedented fourth in a row, being the first guy in a lonnggggg time to hold all 4 majors at once. My personal favorite, Federer, looks a shadow of his old self, needing 5 sets to get through some no name that he already lost to twice. Things are looking good for the Spaniard!

In my last post I took quite a bit of flak from a few friends for being overly optimistic and not being quite in touch with reality. In hindsight perhaps I was a bit over the top, but that was the point. One point that drew particular wrath from a friend of mine was where I said 'Our Generation' was a cause of hope for the future. Maybe I wasn't quite clear about what I meant, all I was trying to get at was that Pakistan 10 years ago was on average a better live for Pakistanis then it is today. My younger brother who is 9 years younger then me does not have all the same privileges that I did while growing up. Anyway, I recently came across this wonderful piece by Manal Khan, and expresses what I am trying to say a lot better. Now the direction of the article is a little different, my top 10 was about things to look forward to whereas Manal is comparing the glory of her childhood to the current state of affairs. However the part that I really enjoyed is where Manal described the Pakistan where she grew up, and it is a Pakistan that I can relate to but my younger brother can't. Enjoy!